The Illinois Republican Party has announced that they have selected economist and television personality Alan Keyes as their candidate for the U. S. Senate post being vacated by Peter Fitzgerald in the election on November 2, 2004. I’ll post links as they become available.
If Mr. Keyes accepts, it will be an interesting race. Mr. Obama will still win but it will be an interesting race.
As of 10:08 pm CDT there is no press release but NBC 5 Chicago is reporting it.
UPDATE:
The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting:
GOP asks Keyes to run for Senate
August 4, 2004
BY MAURA KELLY LANNAN
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Illinois Republican leaders asked Alan Keyes, an East Coast conservative who says out-of-state candidates aren’t a good idea on principle, to be their U.S. Senate candidate Wednesday. But like a string of previous possibilities, Keyes said he needed a few days to think about it before deciding.
Keyes told a news conference Wednesday night that he would make an announcement by Sunday.
At 10:40 CDT Yahoo reports (same reporter, same story).
ANOTHER UPDATE:
The Chicago Tribune reports:
GOP wants Keyes
But talk show host needs to think it overState party is forced to wait again
By Liam Ford and John Chase, Tribune staff reporters. Tribune staff reporters Hal Dardick, Rudolph Bush, David Mendell and Ray Long contributed to this report
Published August 5, 2004Illinois Republican leaders late Wednesday asked conservative talk-show host Alan Keyes to be their candidate for the U.S. Senate, but Keyes said that he would take until Sunday to decide whether to run.
Keyes’ response extended for at least several days the tortured quest to find a Republican to run against Democratic nominee Barack Obama, continuing to paralyze the party six weeks after GOP primary winner Jack Ryan dropped out of the race.
Leaders had hoped to have a candidate after meetings that took two days and more than 14 hours of interviews with 15 candidates and deliberations among the members of Illinois Republican State Central Committee.
Keyes, a Maryland resident who has criticized others for running for office in states where they don’t live, was selected over White House deputy drug czar Andrea Grubb Barthwell. Keyes and Barthwell were selected Tuesday as finalists to fill the vacancy created when Ryan dropped out of the race amid a controversy over the court-ordered release of his divorce file.
“I’m not one of those folks who gets up every morning with the certainty that I have something to offer. But I am always willing to consider that when people make that point,” Keyes said. He said he was “deeply honored and deeply challenged” by the offer and that it would require a “deep and serious and committed deliberation.”
As of 10:00 am CDT Thursday the Illinois Party had not issued a press release.
